Saturday 1st XI v Tongham

Vital win at Tongham

The Ist XI took a further step towards being promoted as champions with a keenly contested win at Tongham. One more win from the last two matches will guarantee promotion to the 1st Division.

Winning the toss and fielding first, Brook saw Tongham's top order create a solid platform after the loss of an early wicket to a phenomenal catch by Neil Cooper off the bowling of Oli Eccles. But this was to be the only success for the opening bowlers and it fell to the spin duo of Jon King and Toby Johns to take control back from the batting side. Alex Johns and Paul Challinor also bowled well and some sharp fielding secured run outs which pegged Tongham back to 168.

Tom Williams, opening with John Hamilton, looked comfortable before falling to an edge. When John also departed, Toby Pheasant was joined by Paul Challinor and the two batted well in a match winning partnership before both were dismissed with victory in sight. A flurry of wickets caused a few pulses to race before Alex Johns and Jon King applied their skill and experience to knock off the few remaining runs to secure victory by 3 wickets.

With Fernhurst winning again, promotion is not yet achieved even though, if Fernhurst were to play and win all three of their remaining matches, Brook would be champions even if they lost their last two matches! The anomaly results from the possibility that Fernhurst could maintain a marginally higher final average if they have one match cancelled or abandoned through no fault of their own and win the other two. But Brook's fate lies in their own hands.

The next match is at Brook on Saturday 16 September. Come and support the team!